Client Overview
Penguin Random House and DK are among the world’s leading publishing organisations, operating extensive and diverse business functions across multiple UK locations. With large workforces, complex supply chains and critical operational dependencies, maintaining organisational resilience is essential to supporting business continuity and protecting day-to-day operations.
To further strengthen their resilience framework, the organisations required an experienced Business Continuity Manager to lead business continuity planning, crisis management and operational resilience initiatives across their UK estate.
The appointment was critical to ensuring that robust continuity plans, governance structures and emergency response procedures were in place to protect people, operations and business-critical services.
The Challenge
Penguin Random House and DK required a Business Continuity Manager capable of designing, implementing and continually improving a comprehensive business continuity framework across multiple UK sites.
The successful candidate needed to combine technical expertise in risk management and business continuity with strong leadership, stakeholder engagement and project management capabilities.
Key areas of responsibility included:
• Business continuity management
• Operational resilience planning
• Business impact analysis (BIA)
• Enterprise risk assessment
• Crisis management and incident response
• Disaster recovery planning
• Emergency preparedness and response
• Governance and compliance reporting
• Cross-functional stakeholder engagement
• Training, testing and simulation exercises
• Recovery planning and business resilience
• Continuous improvement and risk mitigation
The role required an individual capable of working across multiple departments, including Facilities, IT, HR and Governance, while influencing senior stakeholders and ensuring continuity strategies were embedded throughout the organisation.
Strong communication skills, project management capability and the ability to remain effective under pressure were essential to the success of the role.
Our Approach
Understanding the Requirement
Maxwell Stephens worked closely with Penguin Random House and DK to understand their operational structure, resilience objectives and business continuity priorities.
The successful candidate would need to demonstrate significant experience developing continuity frameworks while possessing the leadership skills necessary to drive engagement across a large and complex organisation.
Specialist Search Process
Drawing upon our specialist network across Facilities Management, Operational Resilience and Business Continuity professionals, we conducted a targeted search focused on candidates with experience across:
• Business Continuity Management
• Crisis Management
• Risk Management
• Operational Resilience
• Corporate Governance
• Emergency Planning
• Facilities and Workplace Operations
• Disaster Recovery
• Programme and Project Management
Particular emphasis was placed on identifying candidates who had successfully developed and tested business continuity frameworks within large, multi-site organisations.
Candidate Assessment
Candidates were assessed against a comprehensive range of technical, operational and leadership competencies, including:
• Business continuity planning expertise
• Risk assessment and business impact analysis capability
• Crisis management experience
• Governance and compliance knowledge
• Stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• Project management and programme delivery
• Emergency response planning
• Training and exercise management
• Leadership and communication ability
Our assessment process focused on identifying an individual capable of strengthening organisational resilience while building engagement across multiple business functions.
The Outcome
Maxwell Stephens successfully appointed an experienced Business Continuity Manager with a strong track record in operational resilience, crisis management and risk mitigation.
The successful candidate brought extensive experience designing and implementing business continuity frameworks, alongside the leadership capability required to drive organisational preparedness.
Key strengths included:
• Extensive business continuity and resilience experience
• Strong crisis and incident management expertise
• Proven business impact analysis and risk assessment capability
• Experience leading continuity testing and simulation exercises
• Strong governance and reporting knowledge
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills
• Effective programme and project management expertise
• A proactive and strategic approach to organisational resilience
Following their appointment, the Business Continuity Manager assumed responsibility for developing and enhancing continuity arrangements across the organisation, helping to strengthen preparedness and minimise operational risk.
Results Delivered
The appointment delivered significant benefits across Penguin Random House and DK, including:
• Enhanced business continuity and resilience planning
• Improved crisis management and incident response capability
• Strengthened business impact analysis and risk assessment processes
• More robust continuity testing and emergency preparedness exercises
• Improved cross-functional collaboration between Facilities, IT, HR and Governance teams
• Enhanced governance, reporting and resilience oversight
• Greater organisational preparedness for operational disruptions
• Increased confidence in recovery planning and business continuity arrangements
The successful placement provided Penguin Random House and DK with a Business Continuity Manager capable of safeguarding critical operations while supporting long-term resilience and risk management objectives.
Specialist Business Continuity & Facilities Recruitment
Maxwell Stephens supports corporate organisations, professional services firms, educational institutions and commercial occupiers with specialist recruitment solutions across business continuity, facilities management and operational resilience.
Our expertise includes:
• Business Continuity Management
• Operational Resilience
• Crisis Management
• Risk Management
• Facilities Management
• Workplace Operations
• Emergency Planning
• Strategic Leadership Appointments
By combining specialist Facilities Management recruitment expertise with a deep understanding of operational resilience and risk management, we help organisations secure the professionals responsible for protecting critical operations and maintaining business continuity in an increasingly complex environment.